Louisville Rallies Past NC State to Claim Series Opener
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NCSU | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 2 |
UL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | X | 11 | 9 | 1 |
W: Ben Wiegman (2-0), L: Baker Nelson (1-1)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Coming off of their big midweek victory over Kentucky in the Battle of the Bluegrass, the Louisville baseball program was able to carry that momentum into their series vs. NC State, taking the opener 11-4 Friday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Trailing by three heading to the bottom of the seventh, the No. 11 Cardinals (26-11, 10-6 ACC) mounted a nine-run rally in the inning to jump in front of the No. 23 Wolfpack (24-12, 10-8 ACC) and coast to the finish line.
Ben Bianco (3-4, HR, 4 RBI, 2B) got the rally started, launching a baseball 429 feet to left-center field for his third grand slam of the season. Two consecutive defensive miscues by NC State led to two more runs, Jack Payton (0-1, RBI, BB, SF) added a sacrifice fly, Logan Beard (1-3, RBI) collected an RBI single, then a wild pitch scored a runner to cap off the inning.
Chris Seng (0-0, RBI, HBP) also drew a bases loaded hit by pitch in the eighth inning, making it 10 unanswered runs by the Cardinals to end the game.
Louisville cracked the scoreboard first in the late night affair, with Cam Masterman (1-3, 2 RBI, BB) striking an RBI single in the opening frame, but the Cards largely struggled against the Wolfpack pitching staff. In the first six innings of the game, they had just three hits and five overall base runners. In the seventh inning alone, they had five hits and 10 base runners.
Despite giving up a pair of home runs in the third and fifth innings to Tommy White that gave NC State the lead through the middle innings, Jared Poland (6.0 IP, 11 k, 3 BB, 8 H, 4 ER) still had one of the better starts in his career. White was the only batter to drive in a run off him, and he struck out a career-best 11 batters.
The bullpen for Louisville also delivered an equally as impressive performance. Ben Wiegman (1.0 IP, 2 K, 2 H), Kade Grundy (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB) and Jacob Ferris (1.0 IP, 2 K, 1 H) combined for six strikeouts and only four allowed base runners in three scoreless relief innings.
Next up for Louisville, they'll continue their weekend series vs. NC State with game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Apr. 22 at 2:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.
(Photo of Levi Usher: Jared Anderson - State of Louisville)
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